AUGUSTA

Economy Motors donation outfits TJ with ballistic vest

TJ, a Belgian Malinois shepherd assigned to the Maine Department of Corrections as a K9 officer, will receive a ballistic vest paid for by Economy Motors of Hermon.

The bullet and stab protective vest will be supplied by Vested Interest in K9s, Inc., a Massachusetts nonprofit.

TJ teams with Cpl. Richard Greene, a corrections officer K9 handler at Maine State Prison in Warren.

Each vest costs $950 and has a five-year warranty.

STATEWIDE

People’s United awards $144,500 to 31 nonprofits

People’s United Community Foundation, of Bridgeport, Conn., the philanthropic arm of People’s United Bank, has awarded $144,500 in Community Foundation grants to 31 Maine nonprofit organizations throughout the state.

Funding supports programs such as basic needs services, financial literacy, workforce development and job placement, life skills training, first-time homebuyer programs, affordable housing development, education initiatives and after-school programs.

In total, People’s United Community Foundation awarded $2,126,944 in grants to 345 nonprofit organizations in the communities it serves in Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

Funding was distributed within the foundation’s three areas of focus, with 42 percent allocated to youth development, 31 percent to community development, and 18 percent to affordable housing initiatives. The foundation also contributed nine percent of its funding to local United Way organizations through the People’s United Bank employee match campaign.

Maine recipients are: Auburn – Good Shepherd Food bank, $10,000.

Augusta – Jobs for Maine’s Graduates, Inc., $5,000.

Bangor – Good Samaritan Agency, $4,000, Mainestream Finance, $5,000, Penquis CAP, Inc., $5,000, Ronald McDonald House of Bangor, $2,500.

Casco – Camp Sunshine at Sebago Lake, Inc., $4,000.

Damariscotta – Genesis Fund, $7,000.

Holden – Camp Capella, Inc., $5,000.

Kittery – Fair Tide, Inc., $2,500.

Lisbon – Maine Housing and Building Materials Exchange, $7,500.

Orono – Four Directions Development Corporation, $3,500.

Portland – Community Financial Literacy, $3,000; Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Southern Maine, $2,500; Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Maine, $5,000; Goodwill Industries of Northern New England, $7,000; Gulf of Maine Research Institute, $15,000; Wayside Food Programs, $2,500; Let’s Get Ready, Inc., $5,000; Common Good Ventures, $2,500; Maine Humanities Council, $2,500; Portland Public Library, $3,000; Ronald McDonald House of Portland, $2,500; Woodfords Family Service, $2,500.

Rockland – Island Institute, $7,000.

Scarborough – Southern Maine Agency on Aging, $3,000.

South Portland – Maine Special Olympics, $3,000.

Waterville – Alfond Youth Center, $2,500; Hardy Girls Healthy Women, Inc., $5,000; Kennebec Valley Community Action Program, $2,500.

Wiscassett – Coastal Enterprises, Inc., $7,500.

PORTLAND

Harvard Pilgrim employees choose two grant recipients

Perform for a Cure and the Ronald McDonald House of Portland were awarded $500 grants from the Harvard Pilgrim Foundation’s Community Spirit 9/11 Mini-Grant program.

Perform for a Cure will use the money to provide art therapy and counseling in group sessions for children dealing with a loved one struggling with cancer.

Ronald McDonald House will use the grant to house families of children receiving medical treatment.

Stephen Conley and Melanie Kennedy, employees of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and its affiliate, Health Plans Inc., nominated the organizations for the awards.

Created in 1980, The Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation supports Harvard Pilgrim’s mission to improve the quality and value of health care for communities throughout New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine.

For more details, go to www.harvardpilgrim.org/foundation.

FALMOUTH

High school lists nominees for youth leadership event

Each year, Maine high schools are invited to nominate a sophomore student to attend the Maine Youth Leadership Seminar, a four-day event held on the University of Southern Maine’s Gorham campus.

This year, faculty and staff from Falmouth High School chose Anne Gott as their representative and Martha Jane Kittredge as the alternate to attend the seminar. Both students received the highest number of votes and were chosen for their outstanding leadership qualities.

Their goal of the event is to motivate Maine’s future leaders and create a network of civic-minded students who volunteer to help their communities.

OLD ORCHARD BEACH

Oldest resident recognition goes to Lorraine Wyman, 93

The Old Orchard Beach Historical Society recently selected Lorraine Miles Wyman, 93, to receive its “Apple Cane,” acknowledging her as the town’s oldest living resident.

Wyman, who actually was born within the boundaries of the town, was honored with the title after the staff of the Town Clerk’s Office and the Historical Society researched town birth records to find the oldest living citizen.

Wyman was born at home in Old Orchard Beach on Oct. 27, 1920.

As a teenager, she worked at Palace Playland in Old Orchard Beach during the summer months.

Upon graduation from Biddeford High School in 1939, Wyman took a full-time job in the billing department of Saco-Lowell. She later was employed as a billing clerk at Portland Copper Tank and in several capacities for the town of Old Orchard Beach, including as a librarian at Old Orchard Beach High School, secretary at Old Orchard Beach Public Works Department, a receptionist and telephone operator at Old Orchard Beach Town Hall and as a ballot clerk for many years.

She met her husband, Leslie Wyman, at Saco-Lowell, where he was employed as a guard. The couple married in 1943 and were together for 54 years, until he died in 1997.

The Wymans have eight children, 16 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.

Today, Lorraine Wyman enjoys playing the organ and participating in activities at The Pines. She also is a 50-year member of Annette Chapter No. 184 Order of the Eastern Star and an active member of the United Baptist Church of Saco.

She received the Apple Cane during an award ceremony attended by family and friends at Old Orchard Beach Town Hall Council Chambers.

BIDDEFORD

UNE invites high schoolers to enter MLK essay contest

The University of New England College of Arts and Sciences will award a scholarship worth up to $4,000 as its top prize in an essay contest celebrating the 50th year anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s appearance on the campus during a civil rights symposium.

The scholarship will be $1,000 annually up to four years if the contest winner attends UNE.

Entrants should submit essays that reflect the following theme: Speaking at St. Francis College on May 7, 1964, Martin Luther King, Jr., said: “Great strides have been made to extend the frontier of civil rights. Conditions are better today than they were 25 or 30 years ago, and the walls of racial segregation will gradually crumble.” What has been the greatest stride made in civil rights since MLK spoke at St. Francis College on May 7, 1964?

Ten finalists will be recognized and five award winners will be announced at the College of Arts and Sciences’ 50th MLK Anniversary event, “50 Years of Progress and the Challenges that Remain,” on March 6 in Leonard Hall on the Biddeford campus.

Additional prizes include an iPad mini, two $75 gift certificates to Amazon.com and a $50 gift certificate to the UNE bookstore.

Finalists will be notified in late February and the top award winner will be asked to read the winning piece at the event.

The goal of the event is to bring the campus and local community together to celebrate and showcase the work of faculty and students related to issues of civil rights, equality, social change, diversity and equity.

The event will also feature art- work by UNE students and an interdisciplinary faculty panel discussing issues surrounding the essay question.

High school juniors and seniors are eligible to enter the contest.

The entry deadline for a 700-word limit essay submissions is Jan. 31.

All essays must be submitted electronically, in Microsoft Word or PDF format, to bpayette@une.edu.

For more information pertaining to the essay contest, contact Brooks Payette at 207-602-2371 or at bpayette@une.edu.

WELLS

Wells Junior High gets new Geography Bee champ

Wells Junior High School eighth-grader Quentin Curtiss earned first place in the school’s 2014 Geography Bee.

Curtiss outpointed seventh-grader Matt Chase, the 2013 winner, by knowing correct answers to all three questions presented to them in the championship round.

Seventh-grader Logan Worthley and sixth-grader Max Gates tied for third place.

Chase will serve as Curtiss’ back-up at the state geography bee to be held at one of the campuses of the University of Maine in April.

However, Curtiss and other school winners still must pass a 75-question test to qualify for the state bee.

Winners of state level competitions are invited to compete in May in Washington, D.C., at the National Geography Bee, which features a top prize of a $50,000 scholarship plus a trip to the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Ecuador.

The National Geographic Society provides participating schools with questions, supplies, rules, guidelines and prizes.

KENNEBUNK

Captains’ Club helps market become 15th Star Store

Coastal Healthy Communities Coalition and the Kennebunk High School Captains’ Club announced that Cummings Market has been recognized as a Star Store for its efforts to curb marketing of tobacco to youth.

Cummings Market is the 15th Maine retailer to be recognized as Star Store.

Captains’ Club student members worked with the market’s manager, Dan Boothby, and conducted a survey to assess advertising aimed at youth, none of which was seen at Cummings Market. The objective of the Star Store program is to reduce minors’ exposure to tobacco promotions, such as special price and discount signs, free branded promotional items and general tobacco company in-store posters, signs and other visible logos.

The Star Store program works in combination with NO BUTS! (Blocking Underage Tobacco Sales), the Maine CDC program to stop the illegal sale of tobacco to minors.

Involvement of young people is a key component of the Star Store program. The youths receive special training, meet with managers, conduct surveys, and then recommend changes for signs and promotional materials.

Star Store retailers get to display a decal announcing the designation.

CHCC is one of 28 local Healthy Maine Partnerships, which is supported primarily by the Fund for Healthy Maine.